CIV/TUR – Turkey hammer Ivory Coast and give fans a show

ANKARA (2010 FIBA World Championship) – Turkey got off to the perfect start and never looked back as they cruised past Ivory Coast 86-47 in front of a 7,700 strong crowd at Ankara Arena.
 
Omer Onan, Kerem Tunceri and Ersan Ilyasova led a three-point barrage in the early going to take a commanding 14-0 lead.
 
Ivory Coast eventually got in the scoring column, courtesy of Mohamed Kone. Once they got that first basket, the underdogs seemed to relax and get into the game.
 
The hosts had a 23-11 advantage at the end of the opening quarter, but the visitors did not let that – and the partisan crowd – deter them as they found their stroke from long range at the start of the second period to get within six, 25-19.
 
However, the hosts applied some effective zone defense and Randoald Dessarzin – without star point guard Pape-Philippe Amagou through injury – turned the ball over time and time again, leading to easy baskets for the Turks who led 40-22 at the break.
 
Bogdan Tanjevic rested his starters in the third quarter but the move did not seem to throw off his charges as they maintained a comfortable lead.
 
The visitors looked visibly tired in the final period and the Turks took full advantage as they stretched their advantage and did so in style.
 
Ilyasova fed Omer Asik for an easy dunk and later Sinan Guler, who visited with FIBATV.Com after the victory, wrapped a behind the back pass to Onan for a lay-up to make it 70-41. The latter then followed that up with a three-pointer much to the crowd’s delight.

Quotes
 
Bogdan Tanjevic (Turkey head coach): “We got off to a very good start, especially the team game we played. We did well on defense, our zone press was good. The support of our fans made us very happy and gave us power. Congratulations to all my players.”
 
Sinan Guler (Turkey guard): “Our fans fuelled us tonight. They gave us a lot of energy. When looking at the game in general, we were efficient in all parts, without neglecting the defense. Hedo (Hidayet Turkoglu), our top scorer, didn’t score except for free-throw but he helped us with seven assists. We have shown our game as a team very well and if we keep doing that, we can keep this good game with good results including Russia.”
 
Randoald Dessarzin (Ivory Coast head coach): “We didn’t fight enough and also we really missed the experience of Pape-Philippe Amagou. We lost our second guard, Issife Soumahoro, during the game and Turkey didn’t need that to put themselves in the driver’s seat. Today we didn’t play with enough fluency. Our lack of experience is what made us lose. There are positives to take. I think we played well at the end of the first quarter.”
 
Guy Edi (Ivory Coast guard/forward): “We were a little tense and this was an intimidating atmosphere. We started slow but got into the game after a while. Some of our players were injured so we had to change the system. But we still could have played better.”
 
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